The commentators 14-12-15

...on UK politics

​Forget Stop the War; Labour moderates need to Stop the Denial. They are led by an unelectable extremist but existing Labour supporters and tens of thousands of new ones love him. This Praetorian Guard means that Mr Corbyn will not be overthrown any time soon. The internet means it’s never been easier to build a new political movement. My message to the likes of Hunt, Umunna and Kendall: Stop the Denial and Start a New Party- Tim Montgomerie, The Times

As the great Labour ship lists heavily in the stormy seas of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, there is a potential lifeboat that few have talked about — a lifeboat in which 25 of its MPs are already sitting. When Jim McMahon was elected in Oldham West, he was not just elected as a Labour MP, but as a Co-operative party MP. He joins 24 other Co-operative MPs in the House of Commons, including some of the brightest talents: Stella Creasy, John Woodcock, Chris Leslie. There are 16 Co-operative party members in the Lords. Kezia Dugdale, leader of Scottish Labour, represents the Co-operative party, too — as do three other MSPs- Clare Foges, The Times

People are radically and dangerously misreading the Prime Minister if they think he wants to stay in the EU at any price. The David Cameron I know is much more Eurosceptic than some of his senior colleagues. We need to hear soon about ways in which Parliament can halt the tide of EU regulation, and ways in which we can regain some control of our borders. The PM’s suggestion was modest, and sensible. It has been recklessly disregarded. This country could have a viable and exciting future outside the present EU arrangements. If we are going to stay, we need reform- Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph

Has David Cameron already staged a “massive climbdown” on migrants claiming benefits? His notion was a minimum residency requirement of four years before people would have access to social security. Is he “a million miles away from a deal”, left with “nothing to hide behind”? Anonymous briefings from senior sources are as febrile and dramatic as frontline dispatches- Zoe Williams, The Guardian

Only a few years ago, the puff would have been chucked out the moment the scale of a story like this became apparent, partly as a matter of taste and partly to maximise the potential for display and give the story room to breathe. Last night only the Telegraph dispensed with the blurb - and that decision may have been influenced by the oversized ad at the foot of the page. The Times had signed up Bake-Off's Nadiya and wasn't about to surrender a millimetre of her promo. The Guardian was similarly wedded to its taste of autumn and the Mail to its Lego toy... but journalism was still the winnerHow the papers covered the Paris attacks

Comment Awards, 2015

Teenage ebola diarist honoured

Tuesday 24 November, 2015A 13-year-old girl whose diary of life during the ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone made the Observer splash became the youngest winner at the EI Comment Awards in London today.Bintu Sannoh was named young commentariat of the year for this piece about the crisis and two further articles about the stigma and poverty and hunger that came in the wake of the disease. Six months later she was able to return to school - but she writes about how everything had changed, with only a third of pupils having survived.

Janan Ganesh: double winner

Janan Ganesh emerged the sole double winner of the morning as the Financial Times took pride of place at the ceremony at the RIBA headquarters. He won the top accolade of commentariat of the year, having earlier been named political commentator of 2015.His paper won the award for the best comment pages, Gillian Tett was business commentator and Michael Skapinker won the new prize for business ethics commentary.The Times also claimed a clutch of prizes: David Aaronovitch was honoured for comment piece of the year for this article after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Jenni Russell won the new diversity award, Hugo Rifkind was arts and culture commentator and Sathnam Sanghera media commentator (in succession to SubScribe).Other winners included Simon Jenkins, Gary Younge and Cory Doctorow of the Guardian, Allister Heath of the Telegraph, Channel 4, and the science writer Philip Ball.The chairman's award went to Andrew Rawnsley, of the Observer, while the Sun punctured the domination of the broadsheets (even if few of them are physically broadsheets these days) by winning the eiDigest special award for its leader column. SubScribe was honoured and surprised to find a place on the individual blogger shortlist, but delighted to see the award go to Matthew Scott, whose excellent Barrister Blogger can be seen hereYou can see all the winners here and the full shortlists here.